The full journey across southern Morocco, at a pace that leaves time to stay for the evening in each place.
Follow it day by day on the road map below.
Price your trip
Total
€2,900
€1,450 per person
Up to 12 travellers per booking
Nothing to pay now. We confirm availability and reply within a day.
The places, the food and the nights on this program. Keep scrolling to travel through them, or select a photo to see it larger.
Scroll and the van drives the 742 km with you. Open any stop to see it, or use the map to look ahead and jump to any day.
Day 1 of 7
Marrakech
The van meets you at Menara airport and the city wall slides past on the way in. Inside the medina the lanes are too narrow to drive, so a porter with a handcart takes the bags the last few hundred metres to a plain door in the Mouassine quarter.
7 km, 20 minutesBy Toyota Land Cruiser, from Menara airport
Night 1
Six rooms around a courtyard with an orange tree and a fountain. Breakfast is on the roof terrace, among the satellite dishes and the storks.
Day 2 of 7
Marrakech
A day on foot. The souks are a maze for the first hour and a neighbourhood by the end of the afternoon: by then you will know the turn after the spice sellers and which café pours the strongest tea.
Night 2
The same room as last night. Dinner is up to you; the guide keeps a list of places that locals eat at.
Day 3 of 7
Imlil
South out of the city the plain tilts up into the mountains. The road follows the Rheraya river through Asni, where there is a market on Saturdays, and gives out at Imlil. From here the only ways up are on foot or by mule.
65 km, 1 hour 30By Toyota Land Cruiser, via Tahanaout and Asni
Night 3
A stone house with thick blankets and a wood stove in the common room. The rooms are simple and warm; the view of Toubkal from the terrace is the luxury.
Day 4 of 7
Aït Benhaddou
Back down to the plain and up again, this time over the main range. On the far side the green stops and the colour of the country changes to the colour of the houses. We leave the main road at the top and take the old salt road down through Telouet.
200 km, 5 hours with stopsBy Toyota Land Cruiser, over Tizi n'Tichka and through Telouet
Night 4
Rammed-earth walls that stay cool through the afternoon, a small pool, and the ksar lit up across the river while you eat.
Day 5 of 7
Dadès Gorge
East along the Dadès, with the High Atlas on the left and the Jbel Saghro on the right. Between them the river keeps a thread of green: palms, then almonds, then roses, and a kasbah every few kilometres.
170 km, 4 hours with stopsBy Toyota Land Cruiser, through Ouarzazate, Skoura and Kelaat M'Gouna
Night 5
Rooms set back into the rock with balconies over the river. Dinner is lamb with prunes and almonds.
Day 6 of 7
Erg Chebbi
The longest stretch of open country. After the Todra Gorge the road crosses the hammada, flat black stone to the horizon, past lines of well heads that mark the old underground canals. Then the dunes show up on the skyline, orange, all at once.
300 km, 6 hours with stopsBy Toyota Land Cruiser, via Tinghir, Todra and Rissani
Night 6
Canvas tents with real beds and blankets, a washroom tent with hot water, and a fire in the middle. You stay two nights.
Day 7 of 7
Erg Chebbi
No driving today. The dunes rise to 150 m and change colour by the hour, and the day is shaped around the light: up early, slow through the heat, out again in the afternoon.
Night 7
The same tent. If it is warm the staff will pull a mattress out onto the sand for you.
The end of the road
742 km in all, with the same guide the whole way.
The vehicles and the animals that carry you, and the people who drive and lead them.
4x4Up to 6 travellers
For the mountain passes and the desert tracks: high, steady and comfortable on rough roads.
Mohamed, our driver for 15 years: licensed, careful on the passes, speaks English and French.
CamelThe last hour into the dunes, at sunset, to the camp, and back at dawn.
A camel man from Merzouga leads each line.
MuleIn the High Atlas we walk; the mules carry the bags and meet us at the guesthouse.
A muleteer from the valley walks with them.
Ask about dates, prices for your group, or changes to the program.
Ask about this tourMerzougaMarrakechRoad trip and desert camp
Over the High Atlas and down the valley of the kasbahs to a night among the dunes of Erg Chebbi.
